


With One Eye Open

by StyleMinusSubstance



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Adventure, Gratuitous Use of Creepy Monsters, Heel/Face Dynamics, Horror, Other, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-10-28 02:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StyleMinusSubstance/pseuds/StyleMinusSubstance
Summary: How did the saying go, again?  "Villains are proactive, heroes are reactive."





	1. Chapter 1

“Next up is today’s third match!” Smiley called out to the crowd, drawing a frenetic round of applause- the audience was still riding high after the previous duel. “You Show School’s Sora Shiunin versus… Er, Oliver Swartzchild!” The announcer’s grin never left his face, but his eyes strayed up towards LDS tower, a raised eyebrow the only sign of confusion on his face.

\------

“Explain yourself, Akaba,” Shun hissed, slamming his hand onto a console hard enough to dent it. He advanced on Reiji as a team of techs frantically worked to repair the damage he had done, only for Nakajima to stand between them. The Xyz user snarled at the impassive guard, but turned his attention back to Reiji, who was standing at his desk, eyes on the screen. “Half of the reason we struck the deal was that you needed me to help you deal with that Fusion bastard. What gives?”

“Patience, Kurosaki,” Reiji said simply, never turning to look at Shun, “You’ll have plenty of Fusion users to face soon enough. As for why I pulled you out of this match…” Reiji tapped a few keys on his console, opening up a screen showing a picture of an average-looking man in a familiar blue jacket. “”Oliver Swartzchild” registered for the tournament using a Fusion Dimension duel disk. We’d have gone after him already, but he’s been surprisingly elusive. I decided I’d simply put him in the path of his own.” With that, he turned back to the live footage, and exhaled slowly through his nose. “...Alright, now I see why we weren’t able to find him.” Shun raised an eyebrow.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because the person using that duel disk is not Oliver Swartzchild.”

\------

Sora stood on his end of the duel field, looking around innocently for his opponent. 

“Maaaan… Did he flake? I wanted to put on a good show!” he whined, pouting as he pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Smiley laughed nervously away from the mic, dabbing at some sweat on his brow. 

“Ahaha… Calling Oliver Swartzchild once more! If you don’t enter in the next thirty seconds, you will receive a loss-” Smiley was cut off by a series of screams by the audience as the lights went out, and he quickly tapped his mic to ensure it was still working. “Ahaha, slight technical hiccup folks, just give us a-”

“**To those in the audience with weak constitutions or heart problems… It is highly recommended that you leave the arena now, for your own safety,**” a low, sonorous voice from the loudspeaker cut through the chatter, sending the arena into a nervous silence… Until a soft guitar began to play, quietly striking notes that echoed through the space before blooming into a savage metal line, heralding an explosion of pyrotechnics as a hooded duelist stepped onto the field, striding forward in a tattered cloak. A wide, wolfish grin split his obscured face as the spotlight came back on to shine on him, and he stood tall, throwing his arm out to the side and revealing his sheer size, as well as the duel disk on his wrist… which came online, projecting a teal sword-shaped field. Sora’s smile dropped off his face to be replaced with a look of sheer confusion, the boy biting down on his lollipop as he tilted his head. 

“I didn’t… Who are you supposed to be?” he asked, drawing a dark laugh out of the man, who pulled out a microphone and turned away from his opponent, towards the crowd.

“As stated before,” he called out, pointing into the stands. “If you cannot stomach horror- real, GENUINE horror- then I suggest you leave. For those that remain, I welcome you to a very _different_ sort of Entertainment Duel. A duel that will strike fear into each and every one of your hearts. Because…” He looked up at LDS Tower, grinning. “This is what will happen to each and every one of you, the way you are right now.”

\------

Yuya sat back, tilting his head with a small smile on his grin. “A different sort of Entertainment Duel, huh? What do you think he’s talking about?” he asked Yuzu, looking up at her. She had a nervous look on her face, squeezing the railing as she watched intently. 

“I don’t know, but something about the whole presentation has me on edge…” she muttered. “Be careful, Sora…”

\------

The man turned back to Sora, throwing the mic away and advancing to his position on the duel field. Smiley blinked quickly before returning to his boisterous self. “A-anyway! It’s the start of the third duel! Now, let’s select the Field Spell!” The field within the sphere of cards began to spin until the orb burst, showering cards all over the place as the setting was revealed… “The field is the Dungeon of Dark Illusions! How chilling!” The man blinked, before bursting into laughter, as Sora looked on, utterly perplexed. Smiley privately agreed with him before coughing into his hand. “Now!” he continued, “Action Field, ON!” The man continued to cackle as the solid vision projector started up, with winding corridors of ink-black stone forming a labyrinth around the two. Sora, shaking his head to clear it, put his big smile back on his face and turned back to the crowd. 

“Everyone, my entertainment dueling is about to begin! Please cheer for me like you did for Yu-” His whole body tensed up and his voice fell away as a hand grabbed his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry, Sora Shiunin,” the man whispered into Sora’s ear, having crossed the distance between them in moments. “They won’t be able to look away from you… No matter how much they want to.” The man released his hold on Sora, his face in an almost-rictus grin. The boy gulped as the man walked away, loading his deck into his duel disk and picking up his cloak, throwing it back on. Sora quickly patted his cheeks and reapplied his smile once again. 

“O-OK! Here I go!” He popped his deck into his disk and raised it. “The duelists meet on the battlefield!” He looked over at “Oliver,” who was silent, and tapped his foot impatiently. “Hey, come on, go with the flow! If I say hey, you’re supposed to say ho! If-”

“Sora Shiunin,” the man interrupted, his voice deep and resonant enough to immediately shut Sora up. “I believe the one who needs to understand the flow is you.” A thick fog began to blow in, starting to obscure the man until he was no more than a silhouette, darkness among the darkness. “This WILL be entertaining, I assure you, but you have mistaken the genre. Don’t worry, everyone. Claws WILL strike the ground. Wings WILL beat across the sky. But this Action Duel will be like none you’ve ever seen. Now…” The sphere of Action Cards finally burst, the actions cards fluttering down every which way. “Duel!”

“Uh, D-duel!” Sora responded, shaking his head. He was feeling really off balance thanks to the man’s bizarre mannerisms, but he knew he could get the crowd back. “My turn! I’ll summon a very cute bear monster from my hand! I normal summon Fluffal Bear!” He slapped a card down on his disk, and the adorable winged bear popped into being, making a perfect 3-point landing, drawing cheers from the audience. “And if you thought he was cute, he comes someone even cuter! Because I have a Fluffal monster on the field, I can summon 2 more monsters! Cute sheep that touch your heart- I double Special Summon 2 Fluffal Sheep!” The pair of sheep rose from the ground on either side of the bear, bleating adorably and drawing another round of cheering from the crowd. “I’ll set a card face down and end my… turn?” Sora peered past his line of monsters into the mist. “Um… Where’d you go?”

The fog cleared as the turn ended, revealing… nothing but winding tunnels. Somehow the man had disappeared? Murmuring overtook the crowd as they attempted to find the man, but the darkness of the stage made picking out his black cloak impossible. Sora groaned- all of that talk, and he had run away? Maybe he was looking for action cards already… He walked forward, into the labyrinth of tunnels, monsters at his side, and began to search. “You know there’s a time limit, right?” he called into the echoing stonework. “You have to make a move at some po…int?” Sora’s calls faded away as the hallway opened into another larger room, where an odd sight greeted him. A brilliant golden pot, sitting there between a pair of goblets filled with writhing pink flames. Sora approached it cautiously, noticing deep slashes in the gold… before it faded away suddenly. “A spell of some kind?” he muttered, looking around. “What did you just do?”

\------

“What did he just do?” Reiji murmured, sitting back in his chair and stroking his chin. Shun gripped the arm of the seat, his teeth grit. Nakajima tapped a few keys and brought up another screen.  
“The system is reading a Ritual Summon, sir,” he stated, earning a raised eyebrow out of the young Akaba.

“Ritual…?” he muttered, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees in contemplation. “Kurosaki, what do you know about Fusion’s Ritual users?” Shun crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the screen to catch a glimpse of the mysterious duelist.

“I never encountered any myself. I didn’t think they’d use another type of summon, considering their dogma.” He spat the last word out, a snarl on his face. “It doesn’t matter. If he’s from Fusion, he gets put down with the rest.”

“_If_ he’s from Fusion,” Reiji responded simply, drumming his fingers against the armrest. “Something is off about all of this, and I don’t quite have a handle on what it is yet. That’s not acceptable. Nakajima, gather all the data you can from this duel. I have a feeling it will be very educational.”

\------

Sora gulped as he looked around in the darkness for his foe. “Come on, this isn’t any fun!” he called out, a few boos from the audience galvanizing him. “Are you too cowardly to duel me face to face?” He forced yet another smile for the crowd, though this was was less convincing than the others. “Seriously, this doesn’t make any sense…” he muttered to himself, trying to figure out his opponent-in-absentia, as well as the disk on his wrist. “If he has that…” He shook his head to clear it. He was fine. He was in control. He had Fluffal Crane set, so no matter what happened, he’d be able to fuse on his next turn, and he had 3 monsters. He was- 

He stopped to look over at his Fluffal Bear, who had just tore one of his Sheep in two, in stunned silence, not even letting out a grunt as the 400 points of damage knocked him onto his rear. The audience responded with screams of surprise and fear, but the young duelist could only muster up further confusion. 

“How… What was that?! Bear?!” He looked down at his duel disk, only for his stomach to drop down in horror at the conspicuous space on his board where Bear had been, now empty. He looked up at Bear, and his horror turned into _terror at what he saw_\- Though the monster’s upper body seemed fine, albeit listless as its arms swayed gently, he could see, in the shadows, that Bear’s lower body was just _missing_, a long, twitching cordlike tentacle extending from the gaping space into the darkness. The stuffed creature’s head slowly turned to regard its former master, and let out a ghastly wail, a distorted parody of the cute sounds it had made before. Sora’s mind briefly shut down as the monster began to shamble towards him, dragging itself with its front paws; he ran, as fast as he could, into the darkness.

\------

“What… What just _happened_?” Yuzu gasped, hand to her mouth. Yuya said nothing, staring intently at the field. Ayu and Tatsuya were turned away, screwing their eyes shut, and Futoshi was _actually_ shivering, a look of horror on his face. Shuzo had reacted perhaps the most dramatically of all, pulling his knees up and covering his face with his hands.

“This isn’t entertainment,” Gongenzaka hissed, looking disgusted at the horrific display. “It’s _vulgar and perverse_. How can he call this entertainment dueling?”

“If it isn’t entertainment,” Yuya finally said, his face surprisingly neutral, “then why is everybody watching so intently?” Gongenzaka made a confused face, looking around. He was right- though more than a few were retching or yelling at the field, almost nobody was looking away.

\------

“It’s your turn, Sora Shiunin,” the man’s voice hissed from the darkness behind him. Sora whirled around, his eyes wide, but there was nobody there. 

“How are you doing this?!” he cried out, genuinely angry now. He had been so shocked by the bizarre circumstances that he had forgotten to activate Crane when his Sheep had been destroyed, so now he was two cards behind without even realizing what his opponent had done. Still, he could keep going. A glint in the black masonry above him caught his eye- an Action Card. Hopefully it would be what he needed. He began to climb quickly, looking around for Bear as he approached his prize. Said prize was unfortunately denied to him when the stonework EXPLODED outwards, Bear’s slavering maw snapping down around the card before being dragged backwards, back into the darkness. Sora lost his grip from the shock and force, falling onto his back- even with the softened Solid Vision, it hurt, and he laid there for almost 30 seconds, groaning with pain, before dragging himself up, spitting out the stick of his lollipop.

“Rrrgh… Draw.” Frightfur Factory- it would have been good to have this LAST turn... “You want something scary? Fine, let’s get scary! I Normal Summon Edge Imp Sabres!” He slapped the card down, and the cursed scissors appeared with a violent shearing sound. “Its effect… doesn’t trigger,” he cursed, pulling out another lollipop and biting down on it in frustration. “I… move Fluffal Sheep to defense mode, and end my turn.” He clenched the fist holding the lollipop and glared daggers into the darkness, daring the man to attack him again. Privately he was counting on it- he wouldn’t forget his trap this turn. 

“Very well, Sora Shiunin. My turn!” a voice called from the tunnel behind Sora once more, causing him to turn again. Still nobody the-! Sora barely managed to jump to the side as the gruesome puppet that was once Bear lunged out of the darkness, slicing through the last Sheep. Sora let his grin return to his face- but this one was his true face, malicious and wild. 

“Ahaha! I got you! I activate my trap card! Fluffal Crane! I return Fluffal Sheep from my graveyard to my hand, and get to draw a card! In addition, when Fluffal Sheep returns to my hand from grave or field, I get to add Polymerization to my hand from my deck!” He yanked the Sheep from his grave, and drew another card- Edge Imp Saw. It would do, but only if he drew well on his turn… He pulled the Polymerization from his deck and reshuffled it, recomposing himself. He could get the upper hand next turn, he wasn’t worried anymore. Whatever trick he had played to steal Bear wouldn’t help him next turn. A pair of mechanical chimes echoed through the hallway, heralding two face-downs. 

“Take your final turn, Sora Shiunin,” the man intoned from the dark, this time from his right. No longer interested in looking for him, Sora cleared his throat and turned to the crowd once again. 

“You heard it here, folks! It’s my final turn! I’d better win now, then!” he called out, earning raucous applause to buoy himself as he drew his next card- Fluffal Dog. He pumped his fist and yelled out with glee. “Wahoo! I normal summon Edge Imp Saw! And when it’s summoned, I can discard a Fluffal from my hand to draw 2 cards! So bye bye, Fluffal Dog, and hello, 2 new options!” The cursed saw monster rattled menacingly as Sora drew two, his grin widening at what he received. “And next, I’ll activate the spell card, Polymerization! I fuse my Fluffal Sheep and Edge Imp Chain in my hand! Show yourself! Beast of chains that binds everything! Fusion Summon Frightfur Sheep!” The Sheep reappeared on the field, its eyes wide and glassy, and it began to expand, blades pushing through its fluffy hide. Its bleat became distorted as whirring chains began to spin, and it stomped its way forward, letting out a horrendous sound. Gruesome, yes, but compared to what had been done to Bear, it was nothing. Sora allowed his madness to creep into his grin as it widened, crunching the shattered bits of lollipop in his mouth.

“Alright, Frightfur Sheep, destroy that sick parody!” The ever-present grinding shriek of the monster grew in volume as it charged the twitching remnants of Bear. The remains of the stuffed creature detonated violently, flinging both Sheep and Sora back, against the hardlight stonework. In the corner of his eye, he could see his lifepoints drop from 3600 down to 2800. “What the-?!”

\------

“What the hell is happening, Akaba?” Shun muttered, his eyes locked on the duel. “Did the disk just glitch out?”

“No, it didn’t,” Reiji said curtly, leaning back in his chair again. “The Action Field is preventing us from properly analyzing whatever is being played in those tunnels, but we can confirm that whatever caused Sora Shiunin to lose life was a card effect. His facedowns are still set, and he hasn’t played anything else. We can assume that everything that duelist has done so far has been related to that Ritual Monster, whatever it is.” Shun clenched his fist, biting his lip.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered. “If he’s from Fusion, where are his damn Fusions?! He’s not DOING anything!”

“Clearly,” Reiji said quietly, steepling his fingers as he spotted a hint of movement from the cloud of smoke that was once what was left of Fluffal Bear, “he doesn’t need to use them. And, honestly, if he’s leading the game like this without Fusions, can you imagine what he can do with them?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Shun hissed, gritting his teeth. “If he’s from Fusion, we put him down. No exceptions.”

“In that case, then perhaps we turn our attention back to the duel,” Reiji said, his eyes having never left the screen. “We need to learn as much as we can before we “put him down,” as you say.”

\------

Sora looked up, any showmanship in him burned away to reveal the vicious soldier beneath. He snarled as he jumped up, catching sight of some sort of large black eye slithering back into the darkness of the tunnel. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t care who you are, or why they sent you here- NOBODY makes me look bad. Not like this. Edge Imp Sabre, slice him to pieces!” The possessed scissors made its ghastly shearing sound as it hurtled into the darkness, leaving Sora in silence.

Silence?

Horror dawned on Sora as he realized he couldn’t hear Sheep’s endless grinding anymore. He looked around, eyes wide with fury and… genuine fear, unable to find his Fusion. The only monster at his side was Edge Imp Saw, who regarded him with its cursed eyes. Sora’s blood ran cold as ice as he looked into the tunnel, hearing the sound of a monster being destroyed in the distance, followed by the musical ticking of his life points dropping by 800. The smile leaving his face completely, he shakily set his Frightfur Factory… when he heard it. The slow pounding of feet… and distorted grinding. 

The remains of Frightfur Sheep slowly became visible in the darkness of the hallway, its head hanging limply. As it pulled itself into the clearing, Sora noticed with a dull resignation that its back half was missing, stuffing slowly falling out around the black, snakelike cord that continued to animate it. Unable to speak, Sora tried to put Edge Imp Saw between him and his compromised monster… only for Edge Imp Saw to slowly float away from him, to stand beside the still-approaching Sheep. “N-not you too…” he whimpered, sinking to his knees, eyes growing dull with despair. Slowly, the shadow of Sheep hung over him as the limp head of his monster looked down at him, almost curiously. With a grinding of chains, the monster lunged… and the only sounds in the arena after that were the terrified screams of the boy… and the ticking of life points as they dropped to 0.

\------

Yuma sat there, jaw slack at the display. Next to him, Yuzu had covered her eyes, Ayu and Tatsuya had started to cry, and poor Futoshi had thrown up. Gongenzaka was clutching the railing, his teeth grit as he stared, unblinkingly, at the horrifying scene. A quick glance from side to side indicated that the rest of the audience was going through a similar spectrum of reactions.

\------

The Action Field began to fade away quickly, and a gasp ran through the audience as the man appeared from the fading darkness to stand above Sora, who was unmoving on his knees. He said nothing, merely adopting a malicious grin before picking up his microphone and walking away, up to Smiley’s announcer’s stage, where the commentator had stood, stock still and speechless, for the entire bout. Pushing the near-catatonic announcer to the side, he tapped the mic and looked up, raising an arm to the sky.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that little display was not too graphic for your sensibilities; after all, much worse is coming.” His grin widened at the nervous murmurs the crowd responded with, and he tapped the mic once again. “After all, the REAL animals will be at your door soon. Fusion is on the way, ladies and gentlemen. And they will do far worse than what I did tonight. After all, you innocent people are to be their precious _resources_. Don’t worry, though- they’ll make good use of your lives. If none of you are stronger than that little brat, it won’t take more than a week.” He cackled into the mic for a while before starting to walk away, sparing a vicious smile for the paramedics who had rushed out to tend to the insensate Sora. As he stood in the entry way, he took a quick look back, staring straight into the stands at Yuya and flashing another savage smile, before striding into the darkness once more.

\------

Reiji stood up, hands clenched around the edge of his deck as Shun punched through a console, narrowly missing the face of a poor tech. “He just… He just came out and said it,” Reiji said, his face barely holding onto his neutral impression. Shun whirled around to look at his scarved compatriot. 

“Then what are we waiting for?!” he bellowed, grabbing his duel disk and putting it on. “We get down there, and we _punish_ him for coming here, and doing this-”

“Doing _what_, exactly?” Reiji said, releasing his grip on the table to start pacing. “None of this makes any sense, Kurosaki. This isn’t how the Professor acts.”

“He openly invaded my home, if you hadn’t forgotten!” Shun hissed, slamming his hand on the console again.

“Yes, he _openly_ invaded,” Reiji said evenly, still pacing. “With an army. Dedicated _solely_ to subjugating and carding the populace. There was no pageantry to it, it was a tactical move. This is _nothing_ like that. This man enters our competition, following our rules, while openly using Fusion equipment that is not his. He defeats a _confirmed_ Fusion soldier in a way that requires medical attention, and then proceeds to warn us about an oncoming invasion- in a manner of speaking. As I said, it doesn’t make sense.” The two stood in silence for a while, the LDS techs watching the two of them, waiting for what they would do next. Shun dropped his silence first, pulling on the lapel of his coat.

“I have to find Yuto,” he muttered, walking towards the door, Reiji watching him leave with an impassive expression before sitting back down, tapping his fingers on his desk slowly. 

“...Alright. Send a team to intercept that duelist,” he commanded quietly. “The rest of you, keep analyzing that card he was using. And somebody fix that console.”

\------

As I headed into the back, I closed my eyes as the sounds of booing and protests kicked up after the deafening silence. Exhaling slowly, I looked around, keeping an eye out for the cameras as I headed for the lockers. I figured I had a few minutes at most before Reiji’s goons came to “pick me up”, and I needed to get out before I got shoved into a cell and interrogated. I forced open a locker to use the shelf as a foothold to get to the thin windows above- I had removed the screws holding the bars the previous night, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to actually push them out. I pushed open the window and began to push the bars, grunting as the paint peeled away and the metal came loose.

As I made it out onto the street, I quickly turned and closed the locker door and window, pushing the bars back in and dusting myself off. Bundling up my deck and disk in the cloak, I unbuttoned my shirt and closed it back up around my stuff, hunching my back to make myself look more realistically fat as I slid into the crowd, covering my eyes with my hair. This routine was exhausting, but I had to do it more now than ever, after that little display… I stifled a yawn as I walked into the tram, looking around. My match had already made it onto the news already, with panels discussing my speech afterwards. I allowed myself a small smile- LDS couldn’t censor all of this, and hopefully the Fusion agents already here were suitably unsettled. Maybe playing the villain would actually work.

As the tram stopped at my destination, I walked out and looked around, making sure I didn’t recognize anyone near me, and headed to the sparse apartment I had been renting since I had arrived. I was paid up until the end of the month, but if the timeline was correct, I wouldn’t still be in Standard much longer. Heading up the stairs and locking the door behind me, I half-collapsed onto my couch, unbuttoning my shirt and unbundling my gear. Pulling out a laptop, I began to brainstorm- I had about 4 hours until Yuto would encounter Sora, and the-...

I sat up as I realized that Sora now had no idea who Shun was, and that I might have completely snarled everything. Slamming the laptop shut, I began to pace. No, no this should be fine- Sora was still hospitalized after our duel- actually, he might be in worse shape after what I did than he would have been after his duel with Shun… But that means that Yuto may not even be able to wake him in time to press him… I groaned, slumping back onto the couch.

How did I even GET in this mess…?


	2. Chapter 2

**Recommended Accompaniment- [Evil Ways (Justice Mix)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niOM9zbIs4k)**

_ 8 Weeks Earlier _

It was the smell that woke me up before anything else. The breeze against my face, loaded with salt, made my nose itch and my lungs ache. I started to cough, wincing as I was forced awake, the hacking outright painful. Groaning, I rubbed my eyes and sat up- my back was incredibly sore, as though I had been sleeping on… rock. My eyes opened as I fumbled around on dusty, if solid concrete. A grey sea under a grey sky greeted my view, fanglike rocks protruding from the waves with auras of white foam. 

“What the fuck…?” I groaned, sitting up as fast as I could- not THAT fast, considering how good I am at getting up in the morning. Everything hurt as I sat up, looking at my surroundings. Cool pavement in the open air, with high, brutalist towers in each direction. The sky was dark enough that I couldn’t tell what time of day it was- and with neither sun or moon visible under the thick fog, it didn’t seem like I’d be able t-...

I pursed my lips and rubbed my eyes briefly, staring at the floating silver pylons just… lazily drifting in the sky. I wasn’t anywhere on Earth anymore- not anywhere I recognized, at least. Some sort of island? It looked like the Chateau D’If from where I was standing- not a hint of green anywhere within view, the land too craggy and barren for anything to grow. I gulped, and looked around the roof I found myself on. There was a trapdoor about 40 feet away, with some sort of skylight behind it. A pillar was keeping a particularly poorly-thought-out tower aloft on the other side of the roof. Other than that, it was vertigo-inducingly open, my whole body tensing up as a strong gust of wind blew through. 

Looking down at myself- well, I was dressed, which was more than I could say about myself when I went to sleep the previous night. I didn’t recognize the clothes, but they fit well- a pair of jeans a bit too tight to be a pair I’d own, and a black, sleeveless turtleneck. At my side was a backpack- my backpack, actually, the camo Superdry I had received as a Christmas gift. Grabbing it and slinging it over my back, I crawled over to the pillar, resting against it before unzipping my bag to check the contents. Food? More clothes? Nope. The beat-up old binder and deck boxes I kept my Yu-Gi-Oh cards in? Right there. Oh hey, and the old Chaotic tin I kept my speed duel deck in. That was a… pleasant surprise? I let out a quiet “fuck” as I zipped it back up, rubbing the bridge of my nose. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

The sound of the trapdoor unlocking pulled me out of my private pity party quick as a flash, and I slid behind the pillar just in time as the door swung open, a pair of blue-coated young men climbing up.

“How did you even get a golden eggwich ticket, anyway?” a blonde-haired one asked his… green-haired friend. That was not a natural hair color.

“Got in the top 10 during the last incursion,” he drawled, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a big bite. “Holy shit, dude, this thing is worth the hype. I gotta get even more of that Xyz scum next time- first place gets  _ 5 _ tickets.” I narrowed my eyes, gears starting to turn in my head. Xyz?

“Yeah, like you’re going to beat Yuri’s record,” the blonde snarked, earning a punch in the arm from the greenette. My eyes shot open. Yuri. Xyz. Desolate island fortress. 

_ Fuck. _

“Anyway,” the blonde continued. “Lemme have a bite of that eggwich.” He reached for the half-eaten sandwich, only to get his hand slapped away.

“Back off, Swartzchild,” the green-haired young man hissed, all traces of familiarity gone. “I  _ earned _ this eggwich.”

“Fine. I’ll duel you for it, then,” Swartzchild snarled, pulling out a large device resembling a shield. “If you win, I’ll clean up up here… and your bunk as well.”

“If I win,” Greenie said, rewrapping his eggwich and pulling out a shield of his own, slapping it against his wrist, “you’re going to clean up after me until the next incursion.”

“You’re on,” Swartzchild said, loading his deck. I watched, unmoving, as the two activated their… duel disks. Real duel disks, complete with sword-shamed duel fields. I backed away and pressed myself against the pillar as I heard the sound of roaring, and felt the earth shake, as mechanical monsters materialized, maliciously baying as the two dueled with just as much pomp and circumstance as any cartoon I ever watched. I winced as I heard an explosion in time with a scream- Swartzchild’s from the sound of it. I peeked again to see the green-haired boy standing over Swartzchild, grinning cockily.

“You idiot,” he said snidely, crossing his arms. “If you could actually beat me in a duel, you wouldn’t need to ask me to try the eggwich. Have fun cleaning up, gofer.” He spun on his heel and started walking towards the trapdoor.

“Yeah, well fuck you, Damon!” Swartzchild called out, biting his thumb at the other boy from the ground. How theatrical. As the remaining young man pulled himself up, wiping his face, and started picking up the remaining bits of food and trash from the ground, I bit my lip- if I was in Academia, I wasn’t going to stay 3-dimensional without a duel disk. I needed to get one, now. Taking a deep breath, I ran up to Swartzchild while he had his back to me- only for him to turn around just in time to meet me, face to face. Neither of us said anything for a moment- we just stared at each other. His eyes drifted down to look at my distinctly un-uniform clothes for a moment. That was when I flicked my fist out, sweeping his chin. Immediately, his legs went wobbly, eyes rolling back in his head as he went down.

That worked… way better than I was expecting. Everybody just used cards to settle disputes, huh? I knelt down next to the boy- man, I attacked a kid that was probably at least a few years younger than me- and picked up his duel disk, pulling his jacket off of his unconscious form to boot. It’d probably be a little small, but anything to make me a bit less conspicuous. Picking him up by an arm and a leg, I started to slowly pull him over towards the pillar. I probably wouldn’t have too much time until Damon or someone else showed up to check on him, so I had better-

“Wait, what am I doing?” I muttered to myself, pausing and dropping Swartzchild- he groaned, but didn’t stir. I looked at him, and then finished moving him behind the pillar before leaning against it with a soft groan. I just assaulted a student- gave him a concussion at LEAST. I stared at him as he laid there, against the masonry, head lolled, tongue out. 

“...Better tie him up too.”

\------

I leaned against a stairwell as I left the roof behind, looking around nervously as I took out the duel disk. Closing the wristguard around my arm, I covered it with a wince as the system turned on with a loud blinking nose, only to nearly stab myself with the duel blade. I stood there in complete silence for a minute, half-holding my breath as I waited for someone to investigate. When nobody came, I breathed a sigh of relief and begin fiddling with it, cycling through its functions. 

There was a dimensional transporter function- I found that first- but it was showing an odd symbol that blocked the image- poor reception? Could you have poor reception while teleporting between dimensions? 2 more swipes of the touch screen, and I found my way to what appeared to be a map setting- for all the good it did me, considering the absolutely labyrinthine layout of Academia, and the fact that nothing was labelled. I mouthed a curse and tried to trace a path to a reasonably large area that also seemed out of the way. I crossed my fingers that I could somehow avoid standing out, took a deep breath, adjusted my stolen coat- which fit surprisingly well- and walked out of the stairwell, a calm, neutral look on my face. I hoped. 

I kept my eyes forward as I moved through the halls, privately thankful at how uninterested in each other everybody here seemed. Considering the bloodthirst and lack of morality Fusion was known for by my recollection, a lack of attention was the best possible situation. I passed a group of students that included the one from before- Damon. I stiffened slightly, but when my eyes darted over to him, he didn’t even notice. I was in the clear, it seemed. I let out a relieved sigh and continued on my way, occasionally checking my duel disk when I found myself alone.

“That went… better than expected,” I murmured as I rounded the final corner into the large room I had marked as a waypoint, the duel disk’s reception starting to improve. I confirmed my plan- make it into Standard, find… literally anyone, ????, profit. It was all coming together.

And then I turned the corner, and saw a purple-haired young man. He looked at me, and his face slowly split into a smile that belonged more on a snake than a person.

“You don’t belong here, do you?”

**_Fuck_.**

\------

_ In the Present Day _

“Are you telling me,” Reiji said, exasperation creeping into his otherwise even tone, “that you lost… ANY trace of this man? That he went into the locker room and just wasn’t there when you arrived to apprehend him?” Nakajima cleared his throat, shame visible even behind his dark glasses.

“Er, about that…” he said quietly. “Upon further inspection, we discovered that a set of window bars was tampered with- we believe the duelist left the LDS compound by climbing through. Furthermore, a repairman came by earlier in the day yesterday, saying he had left a tool in the locker room after the monthly maintenance- we believe that the two events are related.” Reiji removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t like the idea that we were outplanned by this man, Nakajima,” he said quietly. “Enough about that, though. He should be back for the semi-finals tomorrow; we’ll decide what to do about him then and there. Now, concerning Sora Shiunin.”

“He is currently convalescing in the medical center,” Nakajima reported, clearly happy to no longer be talking about his failure. “Judging by the injuries he sustained, we can surmise that our mystery man was using Real Solid Vision. He should recover physically within a few days, but… none of the physical damage he accrued should have been enough to drive him to unconsciousness, and he still hasn’t woken up yet. We can assume the duel was heavily traumatic from a psychological point of view.”

“And we’re worried about the mental state of a confirmed Fusion agent… why?” Reiji deadpanned, putting his glasses back on.

“Well sir, Shiunin’s opponent will be participating in the semi-finals, against several candidates for your project. Should this man cause similar harm to any of them-” 

“Your concern is noted, Nakajima, and, for what it’s worth, appreciated. You may have a point, but all the same, we need him to enter- if we disqualify him, he’s in the wind, and we’ve lost him. That cannot be allowed to happen.” Nakajima nodded at his boss, snapping to attention.

“Understood, sir. With your permission, however, I would like to continue the search for this man- if he is apprehended first, there will be no reason to keep him on the card, yes?” Reiji allowed himself a small smile towards his subordinate, nodding.

“Permission granted. Get to it, Nakajima.”

\------

Yuya sat on the steps, saying nothing as Gongenzaka and Yuzu argued in front of him.

“Why are they keeping him here?!” Yuzu asked, teeth grit in frustration. “Sora is a member of  _ our _ school, and they won’t even let us see him!” 

“Yuzu, calm yourself!” Gongenzaka barked in response, putting a foot down with an audible CLACK. “Sora required- CONTINUES to require- medical attention. It would be irresponsible to demand he be returned to us. Nay, my quarrel is with that CUR that did this to him in the first place.” 

“...Yeah, you’re right. Who lets a maniac like that duel in the Junior Youth Division? I couldn’t see much of him under the cloak, but how do we know he was even age-appropriate?”

“It’s not like he did much wrong,” Yuya mused, earning a gobsmacked look from his two companions.

“I’m sorry,  _ didn’t do much wrong? _ Have you flipped your lid, Yuya?” Yuzu asked incredulously.

“I agree with Yuzu on this point. To excuse such a craven display of foul behavior is not like you,” Gongenzaka spoke, nodding sagely at his own statement.

“I don’t know, guys. Narratively, it was a pretty excellent duel- the spots were engrossing, nobody could look away- hell, he got the reaction he wanted a few moments in. As much as I loved my duel with Sawatari, I don’t think our performance got as much of an immediate pop as he did, before he played his first card. Are we really angry because of what he did, or because Sora had the bad luck to be on the other side of it?” The other two paused at Yuya’s statement, saying nothing for a long moment.

“Speaking of Sora, did anyone else notice that he seemed to recognize that guy?” Yuzu piped up after a minute.

“Perhaps they were classmates at another school?” Gongenzaka offered, stroking his broad chin contemplatively.

“Maybe… Could be that “Fusion” school he was talking about at the end?” Yuya mused, standing up. “If it’s a school at all. The way he phrased it was weird. Maybe it was his character, but he put a certain amount of… I don’t know, malevolence in it?” He was broken out of his contemplative trance when Yuzu pounded her fist against her hand.

“We want answers we don’t have. Maybe Sora does. Why don’t we find him, and-” Yuzu’s sentence dropped away suddenly as her face went pale. She pointed a finger towards the forest surrounding LDS, where the 3 could see a hooded silhouette… with glowing red eyes.

\------

Yuto walked through the darkened halls of the LDS medical center, his jaw set in determination. He didn’t know who the other Fusion user was, but one was still convalescing, and he wasn’t going to miss the chance to press him for information about Ruri. Quietly sliding open the door, he stood over Sora, narrowing his eyes to look at him better. This little punk was a Fusion agent? There was something almost tragic about someone so young having become a monster, but he couldn’t deny that he was willing to be just as much of a monster if it would save Ruri.

“Visiting hours are over, Yuto,” drawled a voice from behind him that made the young man’s blood run cold. Whirling around, he tensed up as he found the man that had beaten Sora looming over him, a wide grin the only thing visible under his hood in the darkness. He was taller than Shun, though about as thin, his features and outfit obscured by the ragged cloak.

“How did you-?!” A gloved hand wrapped around his mouth and slowly, but firmly, pulled him away from Sora’s bed, back into the halls. Though Yuto struggled, swinging at the man accosting him, he merely kept his devilish smile as he warded off each of his strikes, continuing to drag him away. As the two left, Sora cracked a single, wide eye open.

\------

Yuto let out a yelp as he was thrown against the pavement, scrambling to his feet with undisguised fury in his eyes.

“What’s your angle, Swartzchild?!” he hissed, pulling out his duel disk. The hooded man… actually tilted his head for a moment, before bursting into laughter, further infuriating Yuto. “What’s so funny?!”

“Nothing you did,” the man said simply, flexing the hand he had clamped around Yuto’s face. “I’m simply… not Oliver Swartzchild. I assumed Shun knew that already- I guess you don’t communicate particularly well.” 

“Then who are you?” Yuto asked, loading his deck.

“Firstly,” the man said, raising a hand, “put your deck away before you embarrass yourself, or worse, throw your life away. Secondly, you may call me Argos.” Yuto blinked in slight confusion at the man’s attitude, but did not lower his disk.

“Fine. Argos. Now, you’re going to give me some answers. Where’s Ruri?” he asked, tensing up as the man approached, his smile widening. “Stay back, or I  _ will _ card you.”

“And then you’ll  _ never  _ find out where Ms. Kurosaki is,” Argos crooned, meeting the Resistance member’s eyes with what Yuto was unsettled to see were glowing red coals in the darkness. “Then again… Perhaps you’re better off not knowing.” Yuto grit his teeth- he  _ did _ know. He charged forward to grab Argos’ collar.

“Tell me where she is!” he yelled, only for Argos to lift him up and  _ chokeslam _ him into the ground, knocking the wind out of him. As Yuto’s back arched in agony, Argos’ hand slid up and pulled off his duel disk, starting to look through his deck with casual interest. “Ghk… Give that back…!” he grunted, slowly pulling himself up.

“Oh, certainly, certainly.” Loading Yuto’s deck back into his duel disk, he casually tossed it back to its owner, who caught it with some confusion. “Now… Are you  _ sure  _ you want to know where your lover is?”

“...Just tell me, dammit.” Yuto spat, the edge in his voice now mixed with undisguised contempt.

“Tell me, Yuto,” Argos began, putting a hand behind his back, “have you ever heard of a Parasite Monster?” Yuto’s face creased in confusion and anger.

“No. What the  _ fuck _ does that have to do with Ruri?” he asked, voice starting to raise again- only for Argos to raise a finger in response.

“Language. Don’t worry, I’ll explain- A Parasite Monster is the crown jewel of Fusion’s experiments- Real Solid Vision creatures that slither into the ear of their victims and control their minds. Impossible to remove through normal means, they completely change the personalities and goals of their hosts to serve Fusion.” Yuto’s blood ran cold.

“...You don’t mean-”

“I certainly do,” Argos said, chuckling gently. “Your “precious Ruri” is lost to the thrall of Fusion’s head scientist, the Doktor. And I assure you- Neither he nor Fusion as a whole will let her go. She’s the whole reason your little dimension was invaded, after all.”

“...What are you talking about?” Yuto asked, a pit of bile in his stomach.

“No, I think you’ve had your fill of answers today, Yuto. Take the knowledge you’ve received and be satisfied.” Argos took a few steps back, his smile never leaving his face, as Yuto started to see red, reattaching his duel disk to his arm, blade extending. 

“You’re going to tell me what I want to know,  _ now _ , or I-” Argos raised a hand, chuckling quietly.

“I’m afraid your dance card is a bit full right now, Yuto. Perhaps you’ll find me after you’re done.”

“What do you me-” Yuto turned as Sora limped into view, undisguised wrath in his eyes.

“I’ll leave you two to enjoy yourselves,” Argos said simply, pulling at the lapel of his coat. “It should be quite the-”

** _“YOU.”_ **

Sora continued walking past Yuto, his eyes fixated on the one that had defeated him so soundly earlier. Argos said nothing, but the large smile slowly diminished into subtly pursed lips.

“...Ah.”

\------

** _FUCK._ **


End file.
